Nodal Trader Conference

Commissioner Allison Clements has two decades of public and private sector experience in energy regulation and policy, representing utilities, independent power producers, developers and lenders, nonprofits and philanthropies on grid policy issues. Commissioner Clements is the founder and president of Goodgrid, LLC, an energy policy and strategy consulting firm. Previously she spent two years as director of the energy markets program at Energy Foundation. Prior to her time at Energy Foundation and Goodgrid, Commissioner Clements worked for a decade at Natural Resources Defense Council in New York, NY, as the organization’s corporate counsel and then as director of the Sustainable FERC Project. Before that, she spent several years in private legal practice, with the energy regulatory group at Troutman Sanders LLP (now Troutman Pepper) and then with the project finance and infrastructure group at Chadbourne & Parke LLP (now Norton Rose Fulbright). She has served as a federal energy expert in several capacities, including as a member of a National Academies of Sciences committee on grid resilience, as co-chair of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s electric grid initiative, and as a clinical visiting lecturer at Yale Law School. Commissioner Clements grew up in Dayton, Ohio. She has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan and a Juris Doctorate from The George Washington University Law School.

Mr. Ahuja is a Senior Trader with BIoUrja Power LLC. Previously he was a senior director at S&P Global Platts. He was also an energy trader and fundamental modeler for Barclays Capital. Other experience included three years at a start-up, managing business research teams in financial services. Mr. Ahuja has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and a B.Tech. degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology. 

Mr. Allerman is Senior Director of Power Analytics at Enverus. Before joining Enverus, he was Head of North America Power Analytics at EDF Power Trading in Houston, Texas, and spent many years as a power analyst at Deutsche Bank. He also worked in the western U.S. for nearly 10 years at Power Utilities and started his career as a Hydrologist for the Federal Government. Mr. Allerman has a B.S. in Hydrology and Water Resources from the University of Nevada and a M.S. in Hydrology and Water Resources from Portland State University.

Ms. Bivens is the Independent Market Monitor (IMM) Director for the ERCOT region. The IMM is responsible for detecting and preventing market manipulation strategies as well as identifying potential design improvements for the ERCOT wholesale market. Prior to joining Potomac Economics, Ms. Bivens worked at ERCOT, Inc., for over 13 years, most recently as Director of Wholesale Operations. She started her career at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and earned a B.B.A. in Operations Management from the University of Houston.

Dr. Bautista has been working at CAISO since 2007 in the groups of Market Performance and Congestion Revenue Rights. He has worked on the analysis of the various CAISO markets, on development and implementation of the market performance metrics of the new CAISO's markets, and on the development and implementation of policies for CRRs. He worked in the Technology Division testing the software application of the day-ahead, real-time and CRR markets, and providing market support in the control room. Currently he is in charge of the group that validates the correctness of the market outcomes and carries out root-cause analysis. Dr. Bautista received a Ph. D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada). Afterwards, he was a Post-doctoral fellow and then a faculty member in the Department of Management Sciences at the University of Waterloo. He is the author of the book, "Competition in Electricity Markets: Modelling and Economics" (2010), as well as numerous other publications on electricity markets.

Dr. Bowring is the President of Monitoring Analytics. Since 1999, he has been the Independent Market Monitor for PJM, responsible for all market monitoring activities of PJM Interconnection. He has extensive experience in applied energy and regulatory economics. He has taught economics as a member of the faculty at Bucknell University and Villanova University. He has served as senior staff economist for the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and as Chief Economist for the New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate's Division of Rate Counsel. He has also worked as an independent consulting economist. Dr. Bowring has a PhD in Economics from the University of Massachusetts.

Since 2012, Mr. Brignone has been a trader at Vitol, working on FTRs and lately on structure deals. Previously he worked as an FTR trader at Deutsche Bank and Citadel. Before that, he was part of the team at Nexant that developed the FTR system for several ISOs.

Biography coming soon.

Biography coming soon.

Mr. Cusenza has over thirty years of experience in building and managing businesses. He has been Chief Executive Officer since January 2008 and led Nodal Exchange to its commencement of trading in April of 2009. Prior to Nodal Exchange, he was a co-Founder and co-President of 23andMe, a personal genetics company, and the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Alliance Management at Perlegen Sciences. He was part of the Senior Management Team of Capital One Financial during a period of great growth in the 1990s, as the Managing Director of Value-Added Alliances and Vice President Marketing & Analysis. Prior to Capital One Financial, he was a Vice President and Partner at Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman) for nearly a decade focusing on financial services. He also worked for IBM early in his career. Mr. Cusenza holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S.E. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Biography coming soon.

Mr. Emnett oversees the development and implementation federal energy and environmental regulatory strategy for Exelon Corporation, the nation’s largest producer and distributor of clean energy. He is responsible for achieving Exelon’s policy objectives in matters before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Environmental Protection Agency. Prior to joining Exelon, he was Senior FERC Counsel for NextEra Energy, Inc., where he provided legal support and strategic advice on federal regulatory matters. Before joining NextEra in 2014, he served as Deputy Director of the Office of Energy Policy and Innovation at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, where he led the development of regulations and rules governing wholesale electric markets and the provision of interstate transmission service. Prior to joining in 2006, Mr. Emnett was in private practice with the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom LLP.

Mr. Estes heads the Energy Regulatory Group at Skadden. He focuses on FERC enforcement and litigation at the agency and on judicial review. He focuses on FERC enforcement and litigation at the agency and on judicial review. He has defended many of the FERC enforcement cases involving electric and natural gas market manipulation allegations that have become public, including representing Barclays Bank, JP Morgan Ventures Energy, DB Energy Trading, Rumford Paper Company, and others. Two of these cases are among the handful to proceed to federal district court and have involved litigation of several novel questions. In addition Mr. Estes often has played a lead role in complex FERC cases at trial. Mr. Estes has a JD from Louisiana State University and a B.A. from Tulane University.

Mr. Farley is a member of the Board of Directors for Live Power Intelligence who operate a proprietary network of patented sensors to measure power plant production and transmission line flows on a 1 to 5 minutes basis. The Live Power plant/line data is delivered to power market participants by Yes Energy, allowing integration with a vast array of ISO data using a powerful suite of data tools. He is also the CEO & President of Apex Compressed Air Energy Storage LLC – a company focused developing utility-scale compressed air energy storage facilities. Previously, Mr. Farley was Senior Vice President of Cinergy Corp., (now owned by Duke Energy) where he was responsible for the Power Trading and Marketing group. Prior to joining Cinergy, he was President of the West Region at Reliant Resources (now owned by NRG Energy). He was also a consultant with McKinsey & Company, mainly focused on the energy sector. Currently, he serves on the board of directors for the Hines Global REIT and Live Power Intelligence. Mr. Farley graduated with highest honors from the University of Kentucky with a B.B.A. and received his M.B.A. with a concentration in finance and operations management from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to attending business school, he was a Captain in the U.S. Army.

Ms. Garza is a senior fellow with R Street’s energy and environmental policy team. Prior to joining R Street, she served as the director of the ERCOT Independent Market Monitor from 2014 through 2019, after serving as the deputy director since 2008. In this role she was responsible for monitoring market participant activity, evaluating wholesale market operations, and recommending improvements to wholesale market design. She has held a variety of leadership roles in generation and transmission planning, regulatory affairs and market design for both regulated and competitive entities. Her previous employers include Nextera and Austin Energy. Ms. Garza is a graduate of the University of Missouri and is a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas.

Ms. Green focuses her practice on natural gas, electricity, renewable energy, and regulatory and compliance issues involving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and other administrative agencies. Clients rely on her responsiveness, attention to detail, and deep knowledge of regulatory process and precedent in proceedings involving administrative litigation, compliance audits and investigations, and in appellate litigation before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Her focus on coalition and consensus building in situations involving difficult, contentious issues frequently results in successful, advantageous settlements for her clients. Drawing on her deep knowledge of Independent System Operator and Regional Transmission Organization (ISO/RTO) tariffs and operations, she regularly assists clients as they navigate electric transmission issues, and she protects her clients' business interests in the electric grid. Ms. Green has a BA from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a JD from University of California Hastings College of the Law.

Mr. Haidari currently serves as Director of Power, Gas, Coal, and Carbon at Refinitiv, and is based in New York City. As business owner of the global power, gas, coal, and carbon markets, he directs strategy and has direct responsibility for increasing customer satisfaction, growing revenue and taking market share. Previously, he was Director of Global Natural Gas & LNG Research at Refinitiv, whereby he led research and modeling capabilities across teams of analysts focused on North America and European Natural Gas markets as well as Global LNG. Under Reza’s guidance the Refinitiv gas research team consistently ranked among the best fundamental forecasters in the US. Before Refinitiv (formerly the Financial & Risk business of Thomson Reuters), Reza was a Senior Natural Gas Analyst at Point Carbon, where he and his team developed Gas Market Trader North America, a fundamentals-based analytics trading tool for natural gas traders and analysts. Reza started his career in energy as an Oil and Natural Gas Analyst in the Financial Advisory Group of IHS PFC Energy where he focused on oil and gas market analysis for financial-sector clients. Reza has served as a faculty advisor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) advising graduate students on a project focused on forecasting long-term US natural gas prices for one of the largest US asset management firms. He frequently makes presentations about natural gas markets to domestic and international audiences. Mr. Haidari completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia in Chemistry and graduate studies in International Relations and Economics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

CJ Polito is a partner in the Energy practice group in the Washington, D.C. office. C.J. represents clients on a variety of regulatory, enforcement, compliance and transactional matters involving the U.S. wholesale electricity and natural gas markets. C.J. has extensive experience representing clients in regulatory proceedings and investigations before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and state energy regulatory agencies. C.J. regularly advises energy traders and marketers on physical and financial wholesale power transactions, mergers and asset acquisition approvals, regional energy market rules and tariff requirements, power purchase and sale agreements, and issues related to the design and operation of wholesale energy and capacity markets. C.J. also advises energy companies, marketers, financial institutions, private equity funds and institutional investors and advisors on regulatory requirements under the Federal Power Act, the Natural Gas Act, the Public Utility Holding Company Act, and the creation and implementation of robust compliance programs.
C.J. is recognized by Chambers USA as “Up and Coming” in the area of Energy: Electricity (Regulatory & Litigation) (2020-2021). C.J. has also been named by Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch for his work in Energy Law (2022) and by Super Lawyers magazine as a “Rising Star” for Energy & Natural Resources in Washington, a recognition based on a vote of peers. Prior to joining Sidley, C.J. practiced at an international law firm focusing on regulatory and commercial issues in the area of energy law. 

Biography coming soon.

As Chief Digital Officer at Fluence, Dr. Madaeni oversees the Fluence Digital team's work on AI-enabled market trading and digital products. In this role, he leads teams of AI and data scientists, software engineers, product managers and operations and commercial sales experts to accelerate Fluence’s digital offerings globally. Previously he served as Chief Executive Officer and member of the board of directors at AMS. He has also held senior roles at PG&E, Solar City and Tesla. Over the course of his academic and professional careers, he has led several “industry first” milestones. These included designing some of the earliest and most innovative algorithms for bidding energy storage into wholesale electricity markets, as well as developing software platforms that trade portfolios of flexible assets including renewable resources, flexible generation, distributed energy resources and some of the world’s first grid-connected lithium-ion batteries. Dr. Madaeni holds a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tehran and a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering (Operations Research) from The Ohio State University.

Mr. Roseblade has almost 15 years’ experience recruiting within the energy markets in both Europe and North America. Having lived and worked in London, UK and Houston, he has previously built and managed successful teams at larger corporate staffing firms in both cities. He excelled as an individual contributor, and as a leader he created energy hubs within existing corporate frameworks. He led by example, successfully servicing niche energy markets that were often neglected by the larger staffing firms.

Mr. Scarbrough has been a leader in environmental and energy markets for more than a decade. As SVP of the pioneering Chicago Climate Futures Exchange, he built customer relationships and drove rapid growth of exchange traded environmental products, leading the development of NOx futures and options, renewable energy certificate futures, and various carbon futures and options contracts. After ICE acquired Climate Exchange in 2020, he continued to focus on environmental markets as well as international coal markets. He serves on the board of directors of the Environmental Markets Association. Mr. Scarbrough graduated from Trinity University with a degree in Business Administration.

Mr. Schneider, who has been working for EEX Group for 15 years, joined Nodal Exchange in 2019 as Managing Director, Strategy. In his role he is responsible for the medium to long term strategic development of Nodal Exchange. He also serves as Director Group Strategy for European Energy Exchange (EEX), managing a global team of product experts and project managers and aiming to transform EEX Group into a global commodity exchange. In former roles he was in charge of product design and business development for Power Derivatives and Environmental Markets in Europe and was instrumental in creating the Global Commodities business with EEX Asia. He established and led the corporate Project Management Office (PMO) and served as project portfolio manager while working as Head of Projects for European Commodity Clearing (ECC). Mr. Schneider graduated with a diploma in Business Informatics from Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. He completed the executive education program at the European Business School as Qualified Portfolio Manager for Financial Markets and received a PMP certificate from the Project Management Institute.

Ms. Sidhom is CEO of Viribus Fund, a firm focused on trading power products in the organized electricity markets. She also serves as executive director of the Energy Trading Institute, a trade association comprised of the largest power trading firms and a thought leader in the space. Ms. Sidhom has a distinguished track record of delivering consistently superior returns in her trading activities. She testified before Congress on the value of power trading to the end-use customer. She serves as a distinguished member of the CFTC Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee and as an advisory board member to Digital Gamma, Inc., a leading infrastructure firm in the crypto-trading space. She has also served as general counsel to a large trading firm based in Houston as well as energy counsel with a leading New England firm. She has represented clients before all the organized markets, was responsible for expanding opportunity in the PJM markets by leading efforts on significant rule changes resulting in additional liquidity and hedging opportunities. She has significant public sector experience, including serving as an Attorney Advisor in the Office of the General Counsel at FERC. Ms. Sidhom has a JD from the University of Nebraska College of Law.

Mr. Singh is a Vice President in the US Power trading group at Goldman Sachs. He has extensive experience in power market design and renewable energy transactions. His recent focus includes work on corporate renewable procurement and he was a part of the core team that executed the firm’s first renewable Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). He has participated in structuring and origination of commercial transactions in power and environmental markets including renewables, energy efficiency and other low carbon resources. Prior to his current position, he was with RBS Sempra Commodities where he worked on structured renewable transactions under California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). He also served as a Senior Advisor at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and prior to that held various positions at PG&E. He holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Ms. Wierzbicki is director of the Division of Energy Market Assessments at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. She has been with FERC since 2010 as a group manager and director in different roles related to energy markets. Previously she was an Energy Fellow for US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Ms. Wierzbicki has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.